Big South Fork Endurance Ride, Part Two

When we got the the vet check this is what riders with good crews had,

 nice dry tents to stand under had people to take care of their horses while they rested.

 This is what those of us without a crew looked like, standing under a tree to try and stay a little dry while our rain ponchos were on the saddles and the horses were eating for all they were worth.  By the way, the tree didn't help.

 It started raining just as we went through the check and never let up until the end of the ride.

 We sloshed through bogs and mud and rocks and boulders and crossed back over the river. (That's Lilly and Nana behind us.  Nana made sure with the vets that her horse was OK to continue.)

 I had J stop at the far bank to see if the horses wanted to drink and Jessica did about lay down but I saw what she was doing and hollered at J to keep her going and ran Hank past her to egg her on.  It all worked and we kept her from going down for what good it did.  We were already pretty soaked and then there was another water crossing where the water went halfway up their sides.  We were knee deep (our knees not the horse's) before we knew it and our feet got soaked.

 Some of the scenery was great but when you're in a race it is really difficult to take out a camera and get good pictures.  There were some steep climbs but not as long of ones as at Virginia Highlands.  The last 5 miles was a fairly level gravel road and we took off.  The horses really made up a lot of time there.  We finished in 5:20 minutes of riding time, 30 minutes faster than Virginia Highlands.  Jessica finished 15th and Hank was 16th out of 32 starting with 28 completing.

 A 5 hour drive, no sleep, riding 5 1/2 hours soaking wet and look, I got a tee shirt!

 We got home to discover it didn't rain a drop here.

 The horses enjoyed their roll in the dirt.

 Jessica was no worse for the wear and high tailed it away.

Hank took a more sedate stroll back to the other horses.
Anyone up for the Sandhills Stampede next month?  We could always use a good crew.